


Schrödinger's Cat

by CanaanX



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Consensual Underage Sex, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mark is an Asshole, Mentions of Sex, No Smut, Possessive Behavior, Surprise Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-04-05 20:13:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19047574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanaanX/pseuds/CanaanX
Summary: If you had asked 13 year old Donghyuck what he thought he would be doing at the age of 23, he would have said something ridiculous like an idol, an astronaut, even the president. Never did he think he would be working as his best friend Mark Lee’s secretary and never did he think he would be the other “woman”. But regardless that's where his life lead him. Donghyuck was struggling to move on until a dazzling boy named Jaemin began to openly court him.





	1. Is it dead or is it alive?

Donghyuck grew up in a mansion not because his family was rich or anything in that regard. His mother was one of the Lee family’s maids. All the help, as Mrs. Lee always referred to them as was given a room to live in to always be kept handy. As Donghyuck grew up, the youngest Lee, Mark, took a liking towards him and was always tasked with being Mark’s personal servant as well as companion. Donghyuck didn't work for the Lee’s but in return for keeping Mark company the Lee’s would pay for all of Donghyuck’s education, even sending him to Mark’s fancy boarding school and when the time came Mark’s university.

They started off as friends. They lived in the same house and with Marks brothers Johnny and Taeyong being much older, Mark didn't have anyone to play with. Mark would invite Donghyuck to play with his cool action figures or play video games or watch TV. In the beginning Donghyuck didn't want to, Mark would at times be mean to him, would call him, poor or say that Donghyuck didn’t have any friends so he should be Mark’s friend. Mark would often make Donghyuck cry, so Mark told him that if Donghyuck played with him he would get his parents to give Donghyuck his own room. Mark eventually stopped making Donghyuck cry and they started to become better friends.

When Donghyuck was 11 and Mark was 12, Mark kissed him. It made Donghyuck’s heart flutter, the way scrawny little Mark squeezed his eyes shut and puckered his lips way more than necessary. It made his heart flutter the way Mark cupped his cheeks and barely pecked his lips for a fraction of a second. It made his heart flutter the way Mark blushed and giggled after he pulled away, looking the happiest Donghyuck had seen him. Mark kissed him countless times that day, It was probably one of Donghyuck’s fondest memories, but even then he knew that their relationship would never go anywhere. It was obvious in the way Mark would look around before kissing him. It was obvious when before they went to bed, Mark whisper to keep it a secret. It was obvious the next day when Donghyuck hugged Mark at school and Mark visibly panicked, pushing him away. The reality was that Donghyuck was poor and Mark’s family owned the largest entertainment company in Asia. 

When Donghyuck was 15 and Mark was 16, Mark took his virginity. It was over a break when Donghyuck and Mark were back home. During the night, Mark slipped into Donghyuck’s bed and softly whispered, “Do you want to have sex with me?” Mark had his hardened dick pressed on Donghyuck leg, and Donghyuck had never been able to say no to Mark. It hurt when Mark told him it didn't mean anything as he slipped his clothes back on and out of Donghyuck’s room. Donghyuck cried as he cleaned himself up and the next day told his mother he didn’t feel so well, he could stay in bed all day.

Mark acted as though nothing had ever happened and it made Donghyuck think for a while that maybe he dreamt it up and Mark hadn’t actually taken advantage of Donghyuck. But that notion was shattered when three weeks later, Mark slipped into his dorm room and asked Donghyuck a similar question. This time it wasn’t soft and heartwarming, this time Mark didn't seem unsure of himself. This time it was brute and crude. “Do you want to fuck?” The arrogance in Mark’s voice made Donghyuck’s heart stop, but not in the same way that it did when Mark kissed him softly and passionately, or when Mark looked lovingly into his eyes when they had sex the first time, or whenever Mark looked at him like he hung the stars. It made Donghyuck’s heart stop in the way it always did when Mark would say something mean on accident, when the kids at school would tease him for being poor, or when Mark acted as though they didn't have something going on between past a friendship. 

Donghyuck rejected Mark for the first time that night. Mark at first looked shocked, until his expression morphed into one of anger. Mark asked why and Donghyuck didn't have an answer that didn't include that Donghyuck loved him and he didn't want to have a meaningless fuck. So he didn't answer and after some time of silence Mark scoffed and told him that it was alright “there are better bitches to fuck,” Donghyuck didn't cry this time. He just laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

Apparently what Mark had said was true because the next day rumors were spread that Mark and Queen Bee Yeri were in a relationship. Hickies were littered all over both of their chests and two days later Mark presented her to Donghyuck as his girlfriend. Things went back to normal in the sense that Mark acted like nothing happened and Mark went back to being the best friend that Donghyuck recognized.

A month later Mark and Donghyuck had sex again. It didn't start in the same way it had before. Mark didn't come into his room and ask him a question. They were on Donghyuck’s bed watching a movie when during a particular heated screen, somehow Mark had pulled Donghyuck into his lap and they were kissing. Donghyuck had no idea how it even happenef, the next thing he knew both of their clothes were off and Donghyuck was seeing stars. They cuddled afterwards, and for the first time in a while Donghyuck left like they were going to be okay.

Donghyuck realized his mistake the next day when he saw Yeri and Mark kissing in the hallway. He had completely forgotten that Yeri was still in the picture and he felt guilty. When he confronted Mark about it, Mark simply shrugged it off and said “What Yeri doesn’t know won’t hurt her, besides it didn't mean anything.”

When Donghyuck was 16 and Mark was 17, Yeri and Mark broke up. Mark didn't cry and when Donghyuck asked why he wasn't sad, Mark simply said he never liked her. Rumors were spread that they broke up because Mark was sleeping around and Donghyuck panicked. He didn’t want to be seen as a Homewrecker so he asked Mark about what they should do, Mark said he wasn’t just sleeping with Donghyuck so nobody would know. Donghyuck was shocked to say the least, he felt his heart drop and didn’t talk to Mark for a few days. But Donghyuck was a weak man and all it took was Mark telling him that he missed him, for Donghyuck to willingly dig his own grave.

Donghyuck was 17 and Mark was 18, when Donghyuck overheard Mark, Taeyong and Johnny talking about Mark getting married. Donghyuck asked Johnny about the wedding and Johnny looked at him with pity while saying “He’s not the heir, so he doesn't have to get married, but for some reason he insists.” Donghyuck didn’t ask Mark why he insisted on getting married to some powerful lady when he clearly didn’t need to, afraid he already knew the answer. 

Donghyuck was 19 and Mark was 20, when Mark got married to Mina. Mina was in love with Mark despite their marriage being arranged and Mark was, well Mark. Mark continued to have sex with Donghyuck until the wedding and if Donghyuck thought that Mark would finally stop when Mark was married, boy was he wrong. Mark and Mina had moved in together, but that didn't stop Mark from coming over to Donghyuck dorm at least twice a week on the pretense of studying. Donghyuck did feel bad, but Donghyuck had been in love with Mark his whole life, he didn't know how to move on. A friend he made in college named Jeno told him, that Mark and his relationship was toxic and the more Donghyuck thought about it, Jeno was probably right. But how does one let go of the love of their life?

When Donghyuck was 20 and Mark was 21, Donghyuck accidently told Mark he loved him during sex. It was one of those rare times when the sex was so slow and so passionate that it felt like they were making love. They hadn’t had sex in a month, even though Mark slept over frequently, Mark had told him he felt like they were distant and he didn’t want their relationship to be purely about sex, the statement had made Donghyuck’s heart flutter in a way it hadn’t in a long time. So when Mark started undressing him, Donghyuck didn’t feel like Mark was using him because Mina couldn’t get Mark off in the way Donghyuck could. When Mark stared lovingly into his eyes with a smile on his face, it slipped out of Donghyuck’s mouth. Three words that changed everything. “I love you.”

At first he didn’t realize what he said, until he saw Mark freeze up and halt his action. Donghyuck’s blood ran cold and he pushed Mark off of him and sat with his legs dangling off the edge of the bed. Mark mimicked him as well. 

“I shouldn’t have said that you have a wife and the sex doesn’t mean anything to you,” Donghyuck sighed. “I’m sorry I won’t say it again. “ They sat in silence for a while and just when Donghyuck was going to get up to get dressed Mark spoke.

“Do you know why I married Mina?” Donghyuck shook his head. “Johnny has a boyfriend. You might have heard of him, his name is Ten. They meet when Ten was a trainee, Johnny never had any interest in men, but when he saw Ten he just knew. They had been dating for a while and my parents have never really said anything for or against the gay community so Johnny thought It was safe to bring Ten home. But my family told him he wouldn’t be the heir anymore if he thought it was okay to bring a guy home and introduce him as his boyfriend. I guess the problem wasn’t really that Johnny liked guys because they had never really said anything bad about Jaehyun but It was more so that Johnny is the heir to the company. So Johnny told my father that he didn’t care about being the heir and my father was okay with that. But at that point Taeyong was already openingly dating Jaehyun. So that meant that the responsibility of being heir would land on me.” Donghyuck stayed quiet for a while trying to process what Mark had said, but it didn’t make sense.

“So you married Mina because the Lee brothers are gay? That sounds stupid.” Donghyuck said.

“I don’t like men.” Mark said plainly. Donghyuck stilled for a second before going off.

“You kiss a man, you have sex with a man, you sleep in the same bed as a man but you don’t like men? I’m not saying that you love me, heck I’m not even saying that you like me, but you're denying the fact you at least find something appealing about men?”

“None of that means that I like men. Sex with you is fun, but you’re my friend. Sex is sex regardless of gender.” Nothing that Mark was saying was making any sense to him.

“Even if that's true, what the point of telling me why you married Mina?”

“Because you told me you loved me and I was just telling you why I don’t.”

“Because you’re now the heir to your parents' company?”

“Exactly.”

 

They didn’t talk for a month after Donghyuck’s revelation and Mark’s rejection. It wasn’t until news that Mina was two months pregnant was released that Mark was knocking at his dorm room. The only explanation Mark gave was that he needed his best friend, before he invited himself in. He didn’t really say anything, he put his head in Donghyuck’s lap and fell asleep. Just like that things went back to normal, Mark slept over at Donghyuck’s dorm twice a week, this time neither was all that interested in having sex, so they didn’t.

Donghyuck turned 21 and Mark was still 21, On Donghyuck’s birthday Mark invited him to one of Mark’s fancy birthday parties. It wouldn’t be for a couple months, but Mark felt the need to invite him far in advance. Jeno also being of the same economic status as Mark was invited and in turn bought Donghyuck a suit before Mark could even offer. It was the first time Donghyuck would go to one of these events, he had been invited to the wedding but for obvious reasons he didn’t attend. Johnny had made an excuse up for him as to why he couldn’t go. 

Mark had graduated from college in May and was set to take over the company sometime in the next 5 years, once he learned the ins and out. Donghyuck had one more year left and was getting his degree in criminal justice, he was going to go to law school, but the Lee’s were very vocal about preferring him to become Mark’s secretary. Donghyuck agreed, he was a weak man after all.

Although Jeno bought him the suit, he didn’t think it was a good idea for Donghyuck to go to the party. Mina hated Donghyuck, Jeno suspected that it was because she knew about the “affair” and Donghyuck just thought their personalities clashed. Donghyuck wanted to believe that she didn’t know because if she did Donghyuck wouldn’t be able to live with himself. Donghyuck also didn’t like the idea of going to the party, but Mark wanted him to go and Donghyuck would do anything for Mark.

It was the night of the party and Donghyuck was sitting at the bar with Jeno’s pretty foreign boyfriend, Renjun. Renjun had been in China for a while due to some family business, but now he was back to run his family's companies Korean subdivision. He’d only met Renjun a handful of times, but it was always like they were old friends. They were talking about Renjun’s time in China when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Mind if I speak to your friend for a second?” The stranger directed the question towards Renjun. Renjun looked to see if it was alright with Donghyuck before getting up and saying “I’ll be back in 10 minutes.” The man sat where Renjun had been sitting.

“Hello, I heard you are Mark’s best friend” The stranger said. The guy was pretty, with a dazzling smile and pink hair.

“Yes?” Donghyuck questioned.

“Sorry, I've been rude. Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Na Jaemin from Na Enterprise.” He stuck out his hand and Donghyuck shook it. “I was just wondering how Lee got such a pretty friend no wonder he hasn’t brought you out into the public, wants you all to himself.”

“Uh, Mr.Na-”

“Call me Jaemin,” He said with a smile.

“Right, Jaemin. I don’t know what you’re implying, but thank you for the compliment I guess.” He said.

“Oh, I’m not implying anything, just that you’re really beautiful. I wanted to know if you were single so I could get your number.” Donghyuck was flustered to say the least but before he could reply Mark showed up.

“Jaemin what an unpleasant surprise to see you here. Was Jaemin bothering you Donghyuck? He had the tendency to make people feel uncomfortable.” Mark wasn’t even looking at Donghyuck when he asked the question so Donghyuck didn’t bother to answer. 

“I flirted with Ten once, let it go.”

“He’s in a relationship with Johnny!” Mark was starting to look red.

“Well it's not like they are even all that public about it, the press doesn't even know. How was I supposed to know?”

“You flirted with my wife at my wedding.” Well that one hurt. He’d never actually heard Mark refer to Mina as his wife.

“She’s an old friend and I’m gay. It’s not like I’m even interested.” The whole thing was getting childish, so Donghyuck decided he’d go look for Jeno or Renjun.

“This is all fun and all, but you’re both making me uncomfortable. So I’m gonna go look for Jeno.” They both looked apologetic.

“I’m sorry Donghyuck. Let me get your number, I’ll make it up to you.” Jaemin shot him another one of his dazzling smiles, it made Donghyuck feel weak at the knees.

“You don’t even know if he’s single or gay, Jaemin.”

“He can speak for himself, Mark.” They both looked at him and Donghyuck suddenly felt clammy.

“I am single and gay, but I don’t just give my number out that easily.” With that Donghyuck got up and walked towards the restroom. It was all too much for him and Donghyuck decided he’d order an uber after he pulled himself together. He was about to open the door when Mark grabbed his wrist and lead him down a hallway, into a room.

“Why were you flirting with him?” It looked like Mark was mad, but Donghyuck didn’t know why. If Donghyuck didn’t know better he would assume Mark was jealous.

“He flirted with me, I was just being polite.”

“Polite? You basically told him you were interested.”

“Am I not allowed to be interested?” Mark was silent, like he hadn’t actually thought about the question Donghyuck posed.

“I thought you were in love with me.”

“I don’t see how that applies to this situation.”

“Because you said you loved me and are flirting with Jaemin out of all people.”

“I did, but like I said that's irrelevant. You clearly stated you didn’t like men so therefore you don’t like me, so I’m allowed to flirt with Jaemin if I want.”

“No you’re not.” Mark said as he backed Donghyuck up into a table. “You’re mine, Donghyuck. You can’t just flirt with other men.” Mark hoisted Donghyuck onto the table and kissed him. Donghyuck wanted to resist, Mina was six months pregnant and Mark didn’t even like him, but he had always been weak for Mark. The second Mark’s hand slid under Donghyuck’s button up shirt he knew he was gone. Mark fucked him into the table and for the first time in a while Donghyuck forgot that Mark had a wife that was now very pregnant, Donghyuck forgot that Mark swore he wasn’t gay, Donghyuck forgot that Mark would never actually be his and in that moment Donghyuck felt happy.

Mark apologized the next day and told him that he didn’t know why he reacted the way in which he did. “I don’t even like you.” Ouch. Like always Donghyuck forgave him and his heart broke a little bit more. Three months later Mina gave birth to their baby boy, Haneul. Mark asked him to be the godfather and even though it broke Donghyuck’s heart, he accepted. After the ceremony Donghyuck cried and decided not to attend the celebration afterwards. Johnny once again came up with a bizarre excuse and Renjun told him Jaemin had asked about him.

Donghyuck graduated at the beginning May, he took the month off, before going to work as Mark’s secretary. As a graduation gift the Lee’s gave Donghyuck a two bedroom apartment, one of the bedrooms was suppose to be for Mark in case he ever wanted to stay over. Donghyuck just made it a guest room since Mark always slept in his bed if he slept over. Working as Mark’s secretary wasn’t too bad, Mark didn’t have an official position as he was training to be a CEO, so Mark didn’t have much to worry about besides attending the meetings. 

When Donghyuck turned 22 and Mark was 22, Mark asked Donghyuck to come in to work even though it was Donghyuck’s birthday, as always Donghyuck accepted. It turned out Mark didn’t even show up to work as Mina had apparently gotten sick and asked Mark to stay home with her. Mark didn’t even have the audacity to tell him he wasn’t coming in. He didn’t know until Johnny walked out of his office at noon and saw Donghyuck at his desk. 

“Hey Hyuckie, what are you doing here? Isn’t it your birthday?” Donghyuck nodded and Johnny frowned. “Go home, Mark’s not even coming in, Mina’s sick.” Donghyuck felt like an idiot, after that when Mark apologized for not only not telling him he wasn’t coming in but for forgetting his birthday completely, Donghyuck didn’t respond. And when, a month later Mark invited him to his 23rd birthday party, Donghyuck declined.

When Donghyuck was 22 and Mark was 23, Johnny caught them having sex. They were in Donghyuck’s living room when they heard a key turn, by the time they realized it, Johnny had already seen everything. Johnny simply said “I’ll give you 5 minutes to get dressed, I’ll be outside.”

Johnny scolded them and Donghyuck didn't say anything. When Johnny asked for an explanation Mark simply said the same thing he always did “it doesn’t mean anything.” After a while Johnny asked to speak with Donghyuck alone and Mark went for a walk outside.

“You know Ten, Taeyong, Jaehyun and I always joke about how you two are probably sleeping together. I always hoped we were wrong.” Donghyuck didn’t say anything. “Donghyuck I love you as my little brother so I need you to be honest with me. How long has this been going on?” 

“Since I was 15.” Donghyuck didn’t really want to talk about, but he figured maybe it would be better to tell someone other than just Jeno.

“Wow, that’s a long time” Johnny looked like he was in thought. “Does he know how you feel?”

“He knows.” He took a deep breath. “He doesn’t care, he says he’s straight.”

“He’s always been stubborn.” Donghyuck laughed. “What do you plan to do? He’s married and has a kid now.”

“Wish I knew, I’ve loved him all my life, I can’t just let him go.”

“I get it, it's not easy but you should consider moving on. He won’t even admit he has any feeling for you, you’ve given him time, seven years of time. It's time to be happy.”

“I’ll try.” The truth was that Donghyuck was weak and the second Mark showed any sign of affection, he’d run back to him.

When Donghyuck was 23 and Mark was 24, Donghyuck saw Jaemin again. It wasn’t like the last time. Donghyuck wasn’t sitting at the bar at Mark’s Birthday party instead he was sitting at his desk, looking through some emails Mark had been sent, when he heard him.

“If it isn’t Donghyuck. Mark really does keep you locked up, I haven’t seen you in what two years? Still as beautiful as ever.” Donghyuck was shell shocked, Mark’s party seemed like such a distant memory and he had honestly forgotten about Jaemin’s pretty face and dazzling smile.

“Still a flirt I see, how can I help you? I'm assuming you didn’t stalk me for two years until you found out where I worked?” Donghyuck joked and to his relief Jaemin laughed.

“And an equally as beautiful brain you have, don’t you. You’re correct I didn’t stalk you, although this is a lovely surprise, you might just get a random visit from me, only if you don’t mind of course. Consent is key.” Donghyuck laughed.

“If you’re willing to make the trip I don’t see why not.” Donghyuck smiled.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Anyways as much as I would love to talk, I do have a meeting with Taeyong. So I’ll see you on my way out.”

“If Mark doesn’t have me doing anything I will.” They said bye to each other and Johnny approached his desk. 

“So you and Jaemin?” All Donghyuck did was smile at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfiction, so sorry for any mistakes. I'm thinking about making this maybe 3 or 4 chapters I don't know. This chapter was kind of a prequel to set the Jaemin/Mark/Donghyuck(/Mina) drama. Nothing has been decided yet, so we'll see what happens.  
> Thank you for reading!


	2. It's definitely alive

Donghyuck’s life was calm, at least as calm as it could be being the other women. After his encounter with Jaemin he had kind of expected Jaemin to be at the office bothering him quite frequently, but that didn’t happen. Donghyuck felt kind of stupid getting his hopes up when he didn’t even know Jaemin. He had told Jeno and Renjun about Jaemin, Jeno didn’t know much about Jaemin, but Renjun apparently loved to gossip with a group of boys the public called WayV which consisted of rich Chinese boys and oddly enough Ten, who was neither born into riches or Chinese. Apparently WayV said that Jaemin is a huge flirt, that he did like to sleep around, rumor had it he had slept with Kim Jungwoo and Jungwoo was hardly ever seen by the eye of the public and was known to be a huge sweetheart with an extremely soft voice, but Jaemin did know how to settle down, as he did date a dancer named Park Jisung for three years. 

Donghyuck didn’t know if the gained knowledge made him feel better or worse, Donghyuck wasn’t interested in another “friends-with-benefits” situation, so if Jaemin never showed up again Donghyuck didn’t necessarily feel like he missed out. But the curiosity was killing him, would their relationship have been a casual sex kind of thing, or a serious dating kind of thing. 

It was a Saturday when Mark knocked at his door. Mark had been busy dealing with some kind of scandal one of the trainee was having, something about some past social media post, so Mark hadn't had much time for Donghyuck lately. It was the first time he had really looked at Mark in weeks, he looked tired and Donghyuck’s heart ached.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Jaemin?” Donghyuck heart stopped, he felt like he was caught cheating even though they weren’t even in a relationship. Weird.

“What about him?” He felt defensive, he didn’t do anything wrong so he didn’t like feeling like he had been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

“He came to the office and hit on you.” He wondered who would have told him, the people in the office didn't really gossip, at least not with any of the higher ups so it didn't seem likely anyone besides Johnny or Taeyong would.

“I guess, but he didn’t really come just to hit on me. He had a meeting with Taeyong.” Mark looked kind of mad.

“I banned him from the office.” Well that explains why Jaemin hadn’t showed up.

“Why would you do that?”

“He’s a hoe, he’ll only break your heart.” Donghyuck raised an eyebrow.

“Like you do?” Mark was silent. “Why can’t you just be happy someone is interested in me? You’re acting like a jealous lover, which doesn’t even make sense. You don’t even like me!”

“So what if I’m jealous.” Yep, Mark was definitely mad. Funny, Mark was married and had a kid, he didn't have a reason to be mad.

“You’re not allowed to be jealous, Mark.” He was tired. Tired of Mark acting like he liked him, when Mark said he didn't. 

“Why not?” Mark had some nerve, coming to his home and calling him out on something that shouldn’t even me a topic of discussion.

“Tell me why you’re jealous.” Mark was silent. “Until you can tell me why you’re jealous, you can’t be jealous.” It was disappointing for a second he finally thought that Mark would own up to his feelings. Mark had never said he was jealous of any of the guys that had hit on Donghyuck in the past, he thought something had finally clicked for Mark, but as always he was wrong and needless to say it hurt. “Unban Jaemin from the office, you can ban him if there's a good reason but your unexplained jealousy isn’t good enough.” Donghyuck glared at Mark. “Give me Jaemin’s number.”

“Why?” It almost sounded like a whine.

“Because I’m going to apologize for you being an asshole.” Mark grumbled but in the end he gave Donghyuck the number.

 

To Jaemin:  
Hey, is this Jaemin? It’s Donghyuck.

From Jaemin:  
Donghyuck? I thought you didn’t give your number to just anyone.

To Jaemin:  
I don’t, but I just found out what happened  
I wanted to apologize for mark being an asshole

From Jaemin:  
Hmmm, how about you make it up to me?

To Jaemin:  
How so?

From Jaemin:  
Let’s have lunch tomorrow my treat :)

To Jaemin:  
Like a date?

From Jaemin:  
Only if you say it's a date.  
Remember consent is key

To Jaemin:  
It's a date :)

 

Donghyuck was nervous, he was 23 and had never gone on a date. It was at times like this where he regretted spending all his youth pining after Mark. He wished he had never said yes that first time Mark slipped into his bed. He liked to believe if he had said no, that he would have eventually gotten over Mark and he’d be in a relationship with someone like Felix or Jungkook or one of many guys that had shown interest in the past. Donghyuck sometimes felt like a fool for rejecting someone as kind and as good looking as Felix, but the damage was done. Felix was now happy with Seo Changbin, someone his parents wouldn’t have to worry about only liking him for his money.

He hadn’t told Mark about the date, he felt it was best to keep it quiet until they were more serious, especially considering his previous reactions to Jaemin. He didn’t really want people commenting on his private life, he sometimes regretted telling Renjun about Mark, Renjun always had something to say and it was typically not nice. Renjun was usually right, but it's not as simple as telling himself to be get over Mark. Donghyuck wasn't an idiot, he knew Mark had to have some romantic feelings for him and that what was holding Donghyuck back. If he knew Mark didn't love him then Donghyuck wouldn't allow himself to keep going back to Mark when Mark clearly couldn't even admit he liked men. But Donghyuck held on to the hope that one day Mark would admit he love him and at least treat him like he mattered as more than a friend. 

He didn't know how he felt about Jaemin, Jaemin was clearly interested, but why, Donghyuck didn't know. Jaemin was rich and handsome, he could have anyone but instead was asking poor, unattractive Donghyuck on a date and that confused him. Jaemin seemed nice and that worried him, Donghyuck didn’t want to use Jaemin as a rebound and he also felt like Jaemin was too perfect and that someone was playing a joke on him. 

Many thoughts plagued him mind as he walked into the restaurant Jaemin suggested. Donghyuck had told him to pick something that wasn’t too fancy, although Jaemin had said it was his treat, he didn’t like the idea of Jaemin spending too much money on him. He didn’t know what to wear so he just wore one of his nicer outfits that was still on the casual side, it was just lunch and he didn’t want to over do it yet. This mind drifted to Mark as he waited for Jaemin in the waiting area, as he had shown up early due to the fear of being stuck in traffic. He wondered if this was how he’d feel if he and Mark had ever gone on a date, would he be nervous, or would he feel right at home as he always did when he was with Mark. As he saw Jaemin walk in, he felt guilty for thinking about Mark when he was literally going on a date with Jaemin, so he pushed Mark to the back of his mind and allowed himself for the first time in his life, to open his heart to someone who wasn’t Mark. 

 

As it turned out he and Jaemin had a lot in common, they liked the same music, the same shows and even the same books. He was shocked to find out that they had both went to SNU and apparently even lived in the same dorm building. It was shocking to even imagine that they could have crossed paths earlier. Donghyuck wouldn’t even had been shocked if they had, it's not like Donghyuck had ever noticed anyone that wasn’t Mark. The topic eventually switched to their majors.

“You’re saying you majored in criminal justice and you’re Mark’s secretary? That’s kind of odd.”

“It wasn’t what I had in mind, but I’m happy.” Jaemin raised one of perfectly shaped eyebrows.

“What did you have in mind?”

“I wanted to be a lawyer, but it wasn’t really in the cards.” Jaemin looked like he wanted Donghyuck to continue so he did. “The Lee have given me everything I ever could have asked for, If I even suggested I wanted something they’d buy it for me and all they ever asked me for was to keep Mark company. I would have been his friend even if they didn’t buy me anything, but when you’re six and someone offers you a video game that your mom told you she couldn’t afford, you don’t say no… They bought me my first phone, my first car, they sent to good schools and a good university. So when they asked me to be his secretary I didn’t really feel like I could refuse. I knew that if I said no, they would be okay with it, they love me as if I was one of their own but I just couldn’t say no.” He didn’t know why he felt comfortable telling Jaemin this, heck he didn’t even really know Jaemin that well, but Jaemin didn’t seem like the type to judge.

“Don’t you think that that's kind of manipulating?” Jaemin did make an interesting point.

“Maybe, I never really thought of it like that.”

The date went smoothly after that, for a moment Donghyuck did feel like he ruined the date by unloading the whole secretary thing but Jaemin managed to smoothly transition the conversation elsewhere. Elsewhere being Jaemin telling him a series of embarrassing stories about himself making Donghyuck laugh so hard, the people at the table nearest to theirs kept glaring at them. Afterwards Jaemin walked Donghyuck to his car and that when it happened. 

They were standing facing each other, he didn’t realize how close Jaemin was until Jaemin’s gaze shifted to his lips. He felt his blood rush to his face and heartbeat quicken. Jaemin cupped Donghyuck’s face with one of his pretty hands and asked him “Is this okay.” Donghyuck nodded and Jaemin connected their lips. Kissing Jaemin was nothing like kissing Mark. Kissing Mark felt sinful, it made his blood run south and his heart feel like it was going to explode, but kissing Jaemin made him feel alive, it made his face hot and his body feel tingly, like he was made of jelly. And when it ended Jaemin gave him one of his beautiful smiles and told him to take care of himself, Donghyuck couldn’t help but look forward to seeing him again. 

 

They quickly developed a schedule, they would go on lunch dates every Wednesday after Jaemin’s weekly meeting with Taeyong and sometimes on weekends they would go on a date somewhere random in town. Donghyuck wasn’t necessarily keeping it a secret but he didn’t feel the need to tell anyone yet, Jaemin was fun and he definitely felt something past the crush he originally had, but he wanted to take things slow. He’d spent his whole life pining after someone who didn’t even reciprocate his feeling and he didn’t feel like it was fair to Jaemin to get too serious, at least not yet. Not when Mark still came over and he let Mark kiss him to relieve stress, not when he and Mark still cuddled on his bed and not when he slipped up once and let Mark have his way with him. Jaemin and Donghyuck weren’t exclusive so he wasn’t technically cheating, but he felt like he was and it made Donghyuck want to cry whenever he let himself think for too long.

He told Jaemin about Mark three months after their first date. It wasn’t how Donghyuck would have ideally wanted to, he knew he eventually needed to give Jaemin a reason why he was so hesitant to have a serious relationship, even though he suspected Jaemin had some idea why.  
Donghyuck and Jaemin were having a movie night at Jaemins apartment when one of their kisses turned into a full on makeout session. It was the first time their kiss wasn’t innocent and surprisingly enough Donghyuck initiated it. Donghyuck kissed Jaemin after the end of the movie and when he felt Jaemin was going to pull away, Donghyuck crawled onto Jaemin’s lap and deepened the kiss. He didn’t know why he did it when he knew he wasn’t ready to go past a few lighthearted kisses with Jaemin, but when he felt Jaemins dick press onto the back of his thigh, he let himself grinded his hips into Jaemin’s. When Jaemin moaned he didn’t feel scared, he felt excited. When Jaemin stopped kissing him and instead was sucking hickies onto the side of his neck, he didn’t push Jaemin away. When Jaemin’s hands traveled from his hips to his ass, he didn’t move to stop Jaemin, he arched his back and moaned instead. It was when Donghyuck felt Jaemin begin to tug on the waistband of his sweatpants, that he felt his blood run cold and he told Jaemin to stop. Jaemin looked like he was panicking and he pulled Donghyuck off his lap.

“Shit, I’m sorry Donghyuck, I shouldn’t have done that. I got carried away and I overstepped, I didn’t mean to try to push you to do something you didn’t want to.”

“You didn’t push me Jaemin,” He took a deep breathe. It’s now or never. “I’m just not ready yet.”

“That’s fine. Donghyuck, I like you and I don’t want you to think you have to do something you’re not ready for, sure I wouldn’t mind taking things further. But you mean more to me than sex.” Donghyuck felt a tug on his heartstrings.

“I like you too and that's why I think I owe you an explanation.” 

“Donghyuck, you really don’t. If you're not ready, you're not really and that’s fine.”

“Just let me Jaemin. It's a lot so I’ll just start from the beginning.” Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows but his eyes were soft, telling Donghyuck that he was listening.

“I lived with the Lee’s since I was five and I’ve known Mark since then. We were friends then, we were only a year apart so his parents always encouraged me to play with him, and I did because my mom thought it be nice for me to have a friend. As long as I can remember I’ve been in love with Mark, he took all of my firsts and at first it didn’t really matter that we weren’t together. We were kids and I thought all I needed to be happy was knowing that he cared about me and was true for a while. We had been sleeping together since I was 15 and everytime he got a new girlfriend I thought he would stop having sex with me, but he never stopped. I didn’t want to have sex with someone in a relationship, but everytime he kissed me, I just melted. When they announced the engagement, I thought that would be the push I needed to move on, heck Mark even told me he wanted to get married. So I thought he was gonna tell me he wanted to end whatever it was we were doing, but he didn’t. He fucked me the night before his wedding and I just couldn’t bring myself to stop. He came back from his honeymoon and he told me that sex with Mina was boring and he had to think of me to even get his dick up. When we had sex that night I didn’t even feel bad.

“I had this fantasy, that he would eventually leave her, that he’d realize he had been in love with me the whole time. When I accidentally told him I loved him, I hoped he would finally have the balls to tell me he did too. But he didn’t, he just told me he didn’t like men and I wasn’t even surprised he said that. When I saw the news Mina was pregnant, I felt like he had cheated on me, isn’t that funny the mistress felt cheated on. I didn’t even know he was still having sex with her, he had told me we wasn’t and I felt like an idiot. Of course he was having sex with her, she’s his wife. 

“We didn’t have sex for a while and I thought it was the end of it, I thought Mark finally realized that what we were doing was unfair to his then pregnant wife. Then I meet you and I thought wow, finally someone who’s actually interested in me, then Mark showed up and he was so jealous and I didn’t even care that he couldn’t admit why. It was the first time he had shown any actually signs that he cared about me romantically and I couldn’t just going to throw that away, So I let him fuck me, even though his wife was six months pregnant and he couldn’t admit he liked men. I didn’t see you again, so I thought maybe it was maybe a sign that I wasn’t meant to move on. So I let myself fall back into the same patterns, I wasn’t happy, but I didn’t know how to just let go.

“I like you Jaemin, I really do, but I haven’t even completely let go of Mark yet. Until a few months ago, I couldn’t even think of letting go of Mark. You’ve shown me that I can be happy without Mark, with someone who isn’t afraid to tell me their feelings towards me, but I need time before I can even think about being in a healthy relationship with you. I do hope you understand.”

“I thought something was going on between you and Mark but I never imagined something like this.” He grabbed one of Donghyuck’s hands and held it. “I’m willing to wait Donghyuck, I’m not like Mark, but I need to ask you a question first.”

“What’s the question?” There was a million things that Jaemin could ask him, but he wasn’t scared, Donghyuck finally saw some light and he wasn’t just gonna let that go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for liking my last chapter, I didn't expect people to actually like it, so it was a nice surprise :)))))  
> Mark wasn’t really in this chapter although he was mentioned alot. I wanted to establish a relationship between Nahyuck before any of the real drama even started. Originally I wasn't gonna write out the conversation that Jaemin and Donghyuck had about Mark because I felt it would be repetitive, but I also felt like it provided some insight on how Donghyuck actually feels about the whole thing now that he's had time to evaluate things while not being as hopelessly in love as he was in the previous chapter. Marks gonna put his big boy pants (kind of) on next chapter and we'll see if Donghyuck's here for it or not. I'm like 90% sure which ship I'm gonna make the endgame, but the other 10% depends on how it plays out.  
> 


	3. Welllllll

“You’re what?” It turned out Jaemin’s request was to tell Mark they were seeing each other. Donghyuck was apprehensive about the whole thing, but he had been seeing Jaemin for months and it was time he at least mentioned.

“Im seeing Jaemin.” Mark’s face was unreadable, he thought Mark would be mad, but he didn’t seem to react. It probably had to do with that fact that Donghyuck choose a time when Mark wasn’t upset but also wasn’t too happy where Donghyuck would ruin his mood. 

“Since when?”

“Almost four months.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me? I’m your best friend you’re suppose to tell me everything.”

“There wasn’t anything to tell yet, it’s not like he is my boyfriend.” He knew that was a lie. Jaemin and him was something to tell, he just wanted to keep the relationship to himself so nobody would add their two cents in about his life.

“But he wants to be.” He felt like he was being interrogated by his mom about a boy she caught him talking to, it felt weird coming from Mark.

“Well… yes.” Donghyuck had been staring at the floor and he finally looked up to gauge Mark’s reaction. Mark didn’t have a reason to be mad, after all, Mark was the one that started their “no strings attached” relationship, Mark was the one that got married out of his own vocation and Mark was the one who had a kid when he clearly wasn’t sexually attracted to women. 

“Where does that leave us?” Mark said after a long silence.

“I don’t know Mark, you've always been the one deciding the significance of our relationship. So where does that leave us?” That seemed to make him think, he could see the gears turning in Mark’s head. 

“What will it take to stop pursuing him?” Mark has always been selfish, afterall Mark was a rich brat that had never been told no in his life. Most of the time it was subtle, in the way Mark didn’t really offer to share anything, or in the way that Mark never really made any sacrifices no matter how small, but this was just greedy.

“Are you serious Mark? For the first time in years, someone puts me first, someone cares about me more than they care about other people’s opinion, someone doesn’t want to hide me and fuck me behind their wifes back and you ask me to stop pursuing them? Why should I? He’s not a bad guy, in fact he’s a great guy. Why can’t you be happy for me?”

“Do you really think I don’t care about you?” His voice was small and Donghyuck felt bad. Mark was always confident and never had a reason to make himself smaller and to see Mark avoiding his gaze and looking like a lost child made his heartthrob. “Hyuckie you’re my friend, we grew up together, we’ve done everything together. I love you, if anything I care about you more than anyone.”

“You don’t love me the way I want you to love me Mark. I can’t wait my whole life for you when you deliberately created a whole life without me. I’m done Mark, I can’t just hold myself back when you’re not even promising me anything.”

“What do you want?” That wasn’t what Donghyuck expected but he tried not to let his excitement show. If Mark was bargaining that meant Mark wanted something and that something for once in his life was him.

“What?”

“What. Do. You Want.” He took a step forward with every word, until their faces were nearly touching. “Tell me, if you really do like Jaemin I’ll back off, but I want to know if you still like me. I want to know if you really want Jaemin or me. Who do you want Donghyuck?” 

“You know what I want Mark?” Mark was caging him in and until now Donghyuck wasn’t able to look into Mark’s eye. But he needed Mark to actually listen to him when he told him. “It's not about whether I like Jaemin or you, or if I actually want you or him. It's about the fact that you’ve been selfish since we were kids and you kissed me for the first time. You’ve never looked at me how I want you to look at me and I’m not talking about how I knew you actually felt, because let's face it you like me whether you want to actually admit it or not. It’s about despite how attracted you’ve always been to me, you can’t even let yourself linger on the idea that you like men for some unknown reason. Your brothers are gay for christs sake, I’m sure most people you even know like men and you can’t even admit you’re sexually attracted to men? It’s about how despite not even being obligated to marry anyone, you went out of your way to marry someone you didn't even know that well, when by no means were you being forced to produce an heir at the time. Its about how you’ve used me for sex for years and I never really said anything because I was so hung up on you, you’re the only person I’ve ever loved and I didn’t see how I could just let that go. 

“So Mark maybe I do want you and if I saw some hope I would probably be very inclined to choose you over Jaemin. But the thing is that I’m done being your fuckbuddy and there is very little you could say to me to change my mind about you and all of that includes a different relationship. So either we go back to being just friends or we keep a professional relationship because you’re still my boss. Your choice.”

“What if I leave her?” His heartbeat speed up, he’d imagined Mark saying something along those lines but to him it had always seem like a fantasy. He didn’t think Mark would ever actually say it.

“What?”

“What if I leave Mina?” He expected Mark to back down, to tell him to forget it, but Mark was staying firm and it took everything in him not to immediately lose all his resolve. 

“You can’t leave her Mark. What about Haneul? What about the press what will they say if one day you divorce your wife and the next you’re dating some random lower class boy.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time families split. Theres nothing holding me to Mina, she signed a prenup and she can keep everything we bought during our marriage, it's not like I don’t have the money. Her families rich and all but not as much as mine, my lawyers would literally crush her, if I want to divorce her by noon tomorrow, I could.”

“Mark its not that simple, even if you leave her that doesn’t even mean we can be together. You haven’t even told me you liked me, and there's the matter of what your parents would say. Also there's no guarantee we’ll even have a relationship, because no offense I'm not just gonna jump into a relationship with you because I’m in love with you. I want a real relationship, I want to be courted, I want to go on dates, I was to hold hands in public and I want it to be normal. Mark I’m done hiding, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about all that, things will be different.”

“I’m sorry Mark but I'm not gonna get my hopes up until I see proof. I can’t just drop everything for you just because you told me to jump.”

“Don’t worry Hyuckie, just don’t write me off yet."

 

He didn’t have the heart to tell Jaemin about the conversation with Mark, so he avoided him. He needed time to think about what to do if Mark really did leave Mina, he didn’t want to get carried away with his fantasizing because even if Mark did leave Mina, he wasn’t sure where that would leave them. He knew he couldn’t just accept him and live happily ever after. Mark had never done anything to prove himself, to prove that he was willing to fight for them, if anything he had only proven that he wasn’t willing to be public about their relationship. But once he got the idea of Mark leaving his wife in his head, his brain just couldn’t stop thinking about how it would be to grow old together to be able to hold Mark’s hand in public, to feel like more than an object whenever he and Mark were intimate. 

It took two weeks of Donghyuck avoiding Jaemin for Jaemin to show up at his door with takeout after Donghyuck had canceled yet another friday date night pretending to be too tired when Jaemin asked what he wanted to do.

“I know you said you were tired, but I haven't seen you in weeks, you're never at your desk when I come in to meet with Taeyong and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay and eating. We don’t have to do anything, I can leave after you eat if you want.” 

“Its fine, we can watch a movie or something, I’m not really in the mood to go out.” They sit in front of the TV, eat their food and watch a movie Jaemin picked. Donghyuck wasn’t really paying attention, he could feel Jaemin’s hesitation to ask him if he had talked to Mark and how it went if he did. So at some rather boring part of the movie Donghyuck paused it.

“I can hear your mind working. What is it?” Donghyuck knew exactly what it was, but he didn’t want to start the conversation and he hoped maybe Jaemin didn’t want to either. He could see the hesitation in Jaemin’s face.

“Did Mark tell you to avoid me?” Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows. “It's just that I feel like you’ve been avoiding me and maybe I’m just making things up, but I don’t think I did anything wrong and I can’t really think of a reason why you would avoid me. I'm sorry if I'm making a big deal out of nothing.”

“He didn’t tell me to avoid you.” Donghyuck took a deep breath, _here goes nothing._ “But I have been avoiding you. I talked to Mark about us.”

“What did he say?” Jaemin looked worried.

“A lot of things, in short he said he was gonna leave Mina”

“Oh” They sat in silence, neither knowing what to say. “How do you feel about that?”

“I don’t even know, I’ve waited for years for him to say something like that, but I don’t even feel happy. A part of me is saying that he’s lying and another is hoping he does it as soon as possible and another doesn’t care because I like you and I don't want to wait for Mark to make up his mind. I don’t even know how to feel.” Another silence fell upon them, he knew Jaemin needed time to think, so he gave him time to soak everything in.

“Look Donghyuck, I'm not one to give up easily, and I'll fight Mark for your heart, but I'll only do that if you tell me it’s not a lost cause. I know if he did leave her, that would be everything you’ve ever wanted and I don’t want to deny you the opportunity to date him because I know you would resent me, but if I do still have a chance I want to be one of your suitors.”

“You do.” Jaemin cocked his head. “You do still have a chance.”

 

The rest of the night went well after Jaemin and Donghyuck got their much dreaded conversation out of the way. Donghyuck invited Jaemin to spend the night, it wasn’t anything new, Donghyuck has slept at Jaemin’s house multiple times when their movie nights ran late and Jaemin insisted he shouldn’t drive home when he was tired, but Donghyuck had never slept in the same bed as Jaemin. Donghyuck usually slept in Jaemin’s guest bedroom, he hadn’t felt comfortable sharing a bed with Jaemin because in his experience nothing good ever came from sleeping in the same bed as someone. But now Donghyuck trusted Jaemin, Jaemin knew his boundaries and he trusted Jaemin to respect them. They ended up cuddling and although Donghyuck felt his heart race as him and Jaemin snuggled together, he was relieved that Jaemin didn’t try to pull anything. 

The next morning Donghyuck found himself alone in the bed, surprisingly he didn’t feel the usual heartache he felt when Mark would leave in the middle of the night. He knew Jaemin wasn’t ashamed of anything that had ever happened. After a while he did begin to notice the buzzing of the tv and realize Jaemin was still there. He smiled to himself and he got up to see what Jaemin was up to. He walked into the living room and before he could tell Jaemin to put on a shirt, he realized what was on the TV. 

There was a picture of Mark and Mina both wearing masks both avoiding the eyes of the cameras, walking out of what looked like a courthouse and bold letters the headlines said:

BREAKING: MARK LEE FILES FOR DIVORCE FROM WIFE OF FOUR YEARS KANG MINA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the support in the last chapter!
> 
> I had a plan for this fic, but I'm slowly realizing that the way I want it to play out may take a while. But regardless, I don't how I feel about this chapter, I wanted to scrap it and start over, but I had already done that. I had this done like a week ago but I didn't know if I wanted to post it. But let me what you guys think!


	4. In nobody we trust

In the time he had been working at LM Entertainment, he had seen quite a few scandals pop up for the celebrities and trainee’s the company managed. They happened a few times a year and usually blew over after a week or so. Sometimes they lasted longer, there was of course the time Ten had been spotted kissing Johnny and the press speculated for months who it was since the pictures weren’t really all that clear. It was extremely concerning how netizens had even been able to identify Ten and surprising that they couldn’t identify Johnny. There was also the time Doyoung had been seen a little too cozy with his fellow co-star of his drama and for months netizens were convinced they were dating, Doyoung had to repeated tell the press that he was gay.

He’d never really seen anything like this. Mr. Lee had stopped coming to the company around the time Donghyuck had started working there, Mr. Lee could work from home if needed and Mr. Lee felt Mark wouldn’t be able to learn if he was always around to help. So when he saw Mr. Lee walking out of the elevator with his team of lawyers and into the conference room, a week after the news initially broke, Donghyuck knew this was huge. Donghyuck didn’t really know how things were going, he had only managed to catch whispers from people walking past or from people talking in the break room. Supposedly Mina wasn’t really saying much but her parents wanted Mark and her to stay together for the financial aspect, Donghyuck knew that the Lee’s were listening to them out of respect but if the Lee’s wanted to, Mark and Mina would have already been divorced. Mina’s family owned an appliance company, they had money, but not like the Lee’s who basically ruled the entertainment business, anybody who was anybody was signed to the Lee’s. Even Renjun had released an album under LM when he had wanted to crack into the music scene. Mina’s family needed the Lee’s but the Lee’s didn’t need the Kang’s.

It was rumored that Mr. Lee had only came in to intimidate the Kang’s, until then Mark had been the one making the deals but now that Mr. Lee wanted the rumors and speculations to stop he decided that he needed to come in to finalize the divorce. Donghyuck hadn’t really seen Mark, only in passing or when he needed to give Mark a message, Donghyuck was drowning in phone calls and emails so when Jaemin asked him to hangout, this time he was genuine when he declined and told him he was too tired.

He never realized how popular Mark was, he knew that people knew who Mark was, but to hear everyone talking about him everywhere he went was overwhelming, the press like always was speculating what was going on. Even though Mark was popular he had never had a scandal, people knew next to nothing about him, so they didn’t really have a clue why Mark broke off the marriage. Every news channel had a different theory as to why they broke up, some thinking Mark and Mina had signed a contract to only be married for four years, others thinking they lost interest in each other, others thinking a third party was involved. Neither had made a statement so people could only speculate.

The whole thing made Donghyuck hesitant, when he had first seen the news he had tried to hide his excitement, Jaemin had been there and he also didn’t want to throw away any of the self respect that he had been working for months to get. But seeing something that before he could only daydream about actually happen made him want to call Mark and throw himself at him, go to his penthouse apartment in Gangnam and actually tell him how much he loved him, but he didn’t because he knew Mark didn’t deserve something like that. He had already promised himself that if Mark did pursue him, he would make him work for it. It wasn’t fair to himself or Jaemin to just let the past years of Mark mentally abuse go unnoticed because Mark suddenly had a gay awakening.

 

He heard a knock on the door. He suspected it was Jaemin, even though he had already told him he would probably fall asleep on him if they did anything at all. He knew Jaemin was worried, because of the scandals his meetings with Taeyong had been canceled and they really had only interacted through text, they had facetimed once but Donghyuck had fallen asleep within the first ten minutes of the call. Even though it was only in his job description to answer calls and reply to emails, for the past week Mr.Lee was treating like his errand boy and as much as he respected and liked Mr. Lee, he couldn’t wait for Mr. Lee to finally leave.

When he opened the door, he was shocked to say the least. There was a very small number of people that knew where he lived and an even smaller number of people that actually visited him. So when he opened to the door to find the other half of Mark Lee’s scandal he didn't really know what to say. So he let her in and offered a drink and a seat.

“I’ll make this short Donghyuck since I have places to be and I’m not particularly fond of visiting my husband’s side pieces. So I’ll be quick for both of our sakes.” She put her bag on the coffee table, he recognized it, it was a Birkin that Mark had gotten for their last anniversary. All the gossip magazines had put her holding the bag on their front page, apparently Mark had bought it for a few millions and everyone apparently thought that meant Mark and Mina were couple goals. “If It wasn’t obvious I know you’re sleeping with my husband and honestly I don’t see why he would even like you, you're nothing special and you're poor, but all that aside I didn't mind before because I knew you made him happy in a way I obviously couldn’t. I was willing to put aside the fact that he was cheating on me the entirety of our relationship but this that you’re doing now, I won’t let slide. I know you think that you and Mark can be together if me and him divorce but let me let you in on a little secret, he won’t ever marry you let alone acknowledge he’s gay. So I need you to break up this little coup that you set up, because I’m not gonna a poor insignificant nobody take my place.”

“Mina I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m not doing anything. I didn’t set up anything to take your place, Mark’s divorcing you because he wants to not because I told him to, I would never ask him to leave you.”

“Donghyuck I thought you’d at least had something in that pretty little head of yours, after all the Lee’s did spend a fortune to educate you just so you’d be an adequate friend for Mark. Donghyuck do you really think I’m that dumb? Do you really expect me to believe that my husband just worked up the nerve to divorce me after four years of our loveless marriage by himself. The Mark I’ve known for just as long as you have would never make a plan and abandon it halfway through just because he felt like it. He may not love me like he loves you but I'm still his friend and if he was going back on the agreement we made he would have given me the heads up, so that can only mean you had something to do with it. So Donghyuck here’s the deal either you convince Mark to stay with me or I leak to the press you not only wrecked my marriage but that you were also the cause of Na Jaemin and Park Jisung’s broken engagement.”

“I didn’t break their engagement Mina, I didn’t even know him when they were dating.” It was weird that Mina even hinted at the fact that he knew Jaemin, as far as he knew nobody really knew they were seeing each other, Jaemin had only said he had told one of his close friends. “I didn’t even know they were ever engaged.”

“Oh Donghyuck that doesn’t matter, the press would believe it either way. How do you think they’ll like that you were two timing Jaemin and Mark? You’ll look like a money-hungry whore.” She smirked at him and it made him feel slightly panicked. Mina had obviously cooked up a plan to make sure Mark didn’t leave her and he was obviously illy prepared.

“Look Mina, I already tried to tell him not to leave you, I'm not sure I can do much besides try again, but I will. But Mina I really didn’t tell him or convince him to leave you, so I’ll tell you this, if after I talk to him he still wants to divorce you, all that really tells you is that he wants to do it out of his own will, not that I didn’t try. I'm not gonna sell him into an entire life of lies if that's not what he wants anymore, just to save my own ass. Because even though my life may be ruined if you leak either of the two things, he's still the man I’ve loved since I was 11 and I won’t force him to do something for my own well being. So I’ll talk to him about the divorce because I don’t want him to regret it further down the line not because you're threatening me.

“But regardless, I do want you to know that you don’t scare me Mina, the Lees built me up, they gave me a comfortable life and all they ever asked was to make Mark happy and if becoming a joke and laughing stock is what I have to do to make Mark happy then I am more than willing, it's the least I can do for them. So I’ll talk to him, but I won’t promise anything because contrary to what you think, Mark is capable of making his own decisions and if I really had him wrapped around my finger he would have never married you and instead he would have pursued.”

 

He invited Mark over on Sunday to hang out and also to also talk about the divorce. He hadn’t been to talk to Mark about it, since they really hadn’t been able to see each other and Mark hadn’t been able to go anywhere without the press somehow being able to locate him. He didn’t try to hint at the fact that Mina had talked to him because he didn’t want for Mark to make any decisions to spite her or be swayed in anyway.

“Not that I’m not happy or anything but are you sure that you want to divorce Mina?” Donghyuck was caution because Mina wasn’t really a topic they ever really discussed, Mark rarely mentioned her and Donghyuck didn’t have a reason to bring her up. He wasn’t asking about the divorce for Mina’s sake it was more for his own, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if inadvertently forced Mark into something he wasn’t ready for.

“If the divorce has taught me anything it's that Mina is a snake. You know she tried to tell me that if I finalize the divorce that she’ll never let me see Haneul again. As if that’s something for her to decide, she doesn’t even take care of him, has a nanny on call 24/7 just so she doesn’t have to take care of him. At least Haneul calls me dad, he doesn’t even know who Mina is and she wants to take him from me. She’s the one that wanted to have a baby and as soon as he’s born she just leaves him for other people to take care of, does she really think that any court will rule in her favor.”

Donghyuck only saw Haneul once a month if even that, Mina didn’t really like for Donghyuck to see Haneul so he only ever saw him when Mark brought him to work with him. He knew Mark loved the boy, but it was still a little weird to think about Mark being a dad, Mark was young, only 24 and he had a 2 year old. Most of Mark’s friends and acquaintances weren’t even engaged, let alone have a kid and is soon going to be divorced. Mark did everything too quick and it scared him to think that Mark was yet again jumping into something too quickly. He knew that he would have to be the one to set the pace for whatever it was that Mark and him were going to be doing after the divorce because if he let Mark decide, they would announce Mark was courting him before the divorce was finalized.

“What are you going to do about custody?” He had so many questions about the divorce but Mark had told him to not worry about them, so he tried to hold his curiosity in and not badger Mark.

“I want to do half and half, at least until I can gauge if Haneul is happy living with Mina cause Lord knows she doesn’t actually take care of him now. I’d prefer full custody but my father thinks its not a good idea to separate a kid from his mom, which I think is bullshit because she doesn’t even act like a mother. Wouldn’t it be better for him to stay with someone that cares about him and not someone who is more worried about what other people do then if her kid even ate lunch? She tried to tell the lawyers I’m never home which isn’t even true, after she had him I adjusted my schedule so I’d be home by five. Mina quit her job, which I didn’t ask her to do, so she could take care of Haneul and yet he doesn’t even know who his biological mom is.”

“So there’s no chance you and Mina could settle your differences and stay together?” He wanted to make sure that Mark wasn’t making a mistake that couldn’t easily be fixed.

“I can’t stand her anymore, like we were friends before and honestly I don’t even remember how I liked her back then. She has no drive, I’m convinced that she wanted to have a baby just so she had an excuse to quit her job because there's no other explanation as to why she wanted a kid she doesn’t care about. Like being a stay at home parent is hard, I’m not saying it’s not or that anyone who decides to be one is lazy or unmotivated but she’s literally just a trophy wife. Your _friend_ Jaemin seems like an alright guy, I don’t know how that guy is even close to her.” Huh, how come Jaemin never mentioned Mina if they were still friends. “If it was my say I would have divorced her weeks ago but my dad said that we should at least try to hear Mina’s side so it doesn’t just look like we intimidated her with our lawyer.”

 

Jaemin called to hang out on the next Wednesday and even though he was tired and would much rather order take out and catch up on his drama’s by himself, he did really want to talk to Jaemin. He had ended up ordering two pizza’s knowing he would probably eat a whole pizza so he ordered a second one to offer to Jaemin. Things had been slightly awkward since Jaemin got there, they hadn’t really talked in the last month and Donghyuck did have something he wanted to ask Jaemin.

“Did you know Mina came to see me?” At this point Jaemin had been over for an hour and they hadn’t said much so he stopped looking for a good time to start the conversation and instead asked what he wanted to.

“Really? What did she say?” Donghyuck wanted to see if Jaemin was just playing it off or he really didn’t know that Mina came to see him, right now he couldn’t tell.

“What you’d expect her to, threatened me basically.” Jaemin was still expressionless. “She did say something that piqued my interest though.”

“What was that?” Jaemin looked kind of curious.

“She said something that the more I thought of didn’t really make sense to me, can you guess what?” Jaemin just shook his head and Donghyuck quirked an eyebrow. “Well it didn’t really make sense how she knew you would have some kind of significance to me, there aren't any rumors about us, if there was Renjun would have already asked me the second he saw even the smallest suggested that you were involved with any non-celebrity. For a second I thought maybe she was keeping an eye on me, but Mina doesn’t really seem like the type and she already knew Mark was for lack of better words fucking me, so she would not only not gain anything but be wasting her time and money, because she’s known me my whole life or at least known of me and also knew that I didn’t really have eyes for anyone but Mark.

“So I was confused but you know I was thinking about how we met and then I remembered something that Mark said to you, he mentioned that you flirted with his wife and do you remember what you said back Jaemin?” Jaemin was just staring at him and he knew that Jaemin knew what he was getting at. “That she was an old friend, I mean that alone proves nothing. An old friend could imply anything, that you knew each other a long time ago and were no longer in contact, that you've been friends for a long time but you've had a falling out, that you guys talk once every blue moon, also that you've known each other a long time and were still very good friends. Mark mentioned you and her being friends, so I asked Johnny if he knew who Mina was close to and you know what he said? He mentioned a few names but the first name he said was well, you.

“So I’m gonna ask you something and I’m gonna want you to be honest with me. When you approached at Mark’s party and once again at my job, what were your intentions?”

“Hyuckie, you mean a lot to me, you have to know that.”

“I asked you a question.”

“I need you to know that I do really care about you Donghyuck and that I never thought we’d progress the way we did. Mina always talked about how Mark was never around because he was always with you. She didn’t know for sure if Mark was even cheating, but Mark hardly came home on time and sometimes not at all, and Mina said that in high school there was always the rumors that you guys were secretly dating and that was all suspicious. Mina just once suggested I should try to befriend you to see if you and Mark were even a thing. But I never really considered it because I’d never seen you and you never attended any of Mark’s events for me to even catch a glimpse of you.

“When I saw you at the party and Jisung told me that was you, I just knew that I had to talk to you, all previous prejudices behind. I just wanted to get to know you and I’m not gonna lie, a part of it was that Mark was interested in you but It was mostly that I looked into your eyes and all I saw was sadness. I wanted to know everything about you but a small part of myself always had in mind that Mina thought Mark and you were having an affair and I wanted to see if you owned up to it. When you told me, yes I was shocked but we had known each other for months, I knew you weren’t a bad person so I didn’t tell Mina cause it seemed like you really did want to let Mark go.

“But Mina is still my friend and when she asked me after the news about the divorce came out if I had heard anything about it from you, I couldn’t lie. She’s one of my best friends and what she said to you the other day was wrong but I can tell you she’s not gonna leak the part about me, she wouldn’t do that to me and especially not to Jisung. I can’t guarantee the thing about you and Mark though, she wants revenge.”

“Why have you never mentioned her? You always talk about all your other friends, why have you never mentioned her if she’s one of your best friends?”

“You always seemed to tense up whenever I’d mention Mark or ask about him, I thought it would be the same if I mentioned Mina.”

“Jaemin I want to believe you, but its hard when you had months to tell me that you knew Mina and Mina may or may not have pushed you to be my friends. I thought we were at least being truthful to each other, I told you about the affair, I’ve only ever told Jeno, Renjun and Johnny and it was a big deal to me to tell you as well. If you had no ill intentions and I think it would have showed and you wouldn’t have had anything to worry about. Instead you omitted the fact that Mina was even your friend and I gave you a chance to come clean just now and instead, you waited to see if I had actually found out it about before you explained yourself. Jaemin, I really liked you and I felt like you would have ended up being my choice, but I don’t even know how I feel now. Believe me, I want to believe you but I don’t even know if I can trust you. I think you should leave, I need time to think about everything.”

“I’ll leave, but please know that I never meant to hurt you, I do realize in hindsight that I should have told you but I can’t go back now. I'm sorry Hyuckie.”

 

After Jaemin left, he picked up his phone and did something he should have done a really long time ago. He sighed when heard the line pick up.

“Hey Duckie I haven’t heard from you in a while, whats up?”

“Hey Jeno, I was wondering if you and Renjun were free, I need to talk to someone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard to write, it was hard to get it to a point were I was happy with it. What do we think? I hope you guys liked it. A lot of things happened in this chapter we finally got some insight on Mark and Mina's relationship. Mina's kind of the bad guy in this chapter, I don't have anything against her, she's just a character but don't worry she'll get a happy ending. In case anyone was wondering Jaemin and Jisung are still friends, they just realized they weren't for each other and we're better friends then lovers. Feel free to ask any questions, leave a comment. Thank you guys for reading!


	5. Don't Need Your Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a minute since I actually worked on this, and before I had a timeline thought out and now I forgot what time of the year I had left off, so if the timeline doesn’t make sense, this is a warning in advance. I’m also basing this loosely on what I know about undergrad admission in the U.S. I had planned on leaving this unfinished because I didn’t have any motivation to finish it but procrastination led me to write this finale

He needed time, at least that’s what Renjun had said. It made sense, he’d never been able to be his own person without being around Mark and now Jaemin. Jeno suggested going back to college and Donghyuck laughed, sure he had money saved up but not enough to even consider going to law school, sure it was only three years but he didn’t know if the Lee’s would even consider sponsoring him and he sure as hell wasn’t gonna take out a loan.

“What if we paid for it?”

“Renjun, you know I could never ask that of you.”

“Hyuck it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, we have the money and you could live with one of us.” He was hesitant, he’d been accepting things from people his whole life, he didn’t want to be a charity case for Jeno and Renjun as well. “If you want you could repay us when you become a big hotshot lawyer, but right now you just need to be free from all your ties to both of them, you need to become independent because otherwise you’re going to feel obligated to choose one of them even if they aren’t the right choice. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet a cutie in law school, you need change and you won’t get it if you work for LM your whole life.”

\---  
Donghyuck got his acceptance letter to SNU in late March and turned in his letter of resignation to Mark the week after, he intended to stop working at the beginning of August, giving Mark enough time to find a replacement. The divorce had been finalized at the beginning of the new year and Donghyuck had told Mark to wait to pursue anything because he didn’t just want to be seen as a mistress to everyone, even though that was exactly how he felt to begin with.

“I don’t know if I can support you with this Hyuck, you didn’t even tell me about it.” He felt the urge to scoff, he didn’t need Mark’s support, if he had he would asked.

“I didn’t want you to influence my decision. I’ve been your puppy since we were kids and I’m just tired of following you around and I knew if you told me It wasn’t a good idea, I wouldn’t have turned in my application.”

“I’m sure I can work something before school starts, I never wanted you to feel trapped. If you had told me, I would have never stopped you Hyuck.” Mark looked sincere, but he had also known Mark for most of his life he knew that Mark didn’t always think before acting.

“It’s fine Mark, I already figured it. You don’t have to worry about me.” Donghyuck excused himself and he turned to walk out, Mark spoke up.

“What about us?” It was barely a whisper, but it didn’t surprise Donghyuck that Mark was asking, it was almost expected. 

“Oh Mark that depends on you, I told you, I want a real relationship. I’m done giving you my ass and willingly hurting myself just because I love you. Fight for me if you want to and if you don’t I'll understand too.” It scared him to know this could be the end of their “love story”, it was likely that what Mark had told him about how “it was going to be different” had just been a spur of the moment thing. 

“Hyuck you know I love you right?” He felt his heart speed up but he knew he couldn’t let those simple words cloud his judgement.

“No Mark, I don’t know.” And he left it at that.

\---  
He had tried to return the apartment to the Lee’s but they told him it was a gift and they would always support him even if he wasn’t by Mark’s side. That had made him laugh internally, would they support him if they knew that he had ultimately been the excuse Mark used to break off his marriage. They offered to pay for his schooling but he refused, Renjuns words ringing true, he needed some independence and accepting things from the Lee’s kept him tied to Mark, so even though the apartment was his, he moved in with Jeno, having a campus job lined up to at least pay Jeno for rent. Even if Jeno initially refused, Jeno just told him he’d use it to pay off the debt that Donghyuck insisted on having, a compromise Renjun had called it. 

Donghyuck trained Taehyun who Mark had hired to replace him and before Donghyuck knew it, it was mid-July and Mark told him to take the rest of the month off so prepare for school, Mark said to think of it as a paid vacation. Donghyuck had been hesitant but he felt it would at least be good for him.

School started and he found it to be extremely similar to undergrad, he was excited to begin, but two weeks in, he dreaded going to class. He met a few people that had been interested in him but he didn’t feel like he was ready yet to date, he didn’t know if he could trust people after what happened with Jaemin. Mark hadn’t made any effort to stay connected besides the occasion visit Donghyuck had made to Hanuel, and Donghyuck couldn’t say he was surprised. 

He heard news that Mina was secretly dating Hwang Hyunjin from Renjun and Donghyuck felt happy for her, he didn’t hate the girl despite the way she had spoken to him. He had been acquaintances with Hyunjin in high school and he was a nice guy, he’d mostly known him through Felix, we’ll at least until Felix and him had fallen out after Felix confessed. She thankfully hadn’t tried to leak anything about him which Donghyuck was thankful for, but still feared she’d do it when he was finally in a good place.

Before he knew it his first semester had passed and a friend he had made, Yukhei, had asked his on a date, the day after they went on break, Donghyuck hadn’t said no, but he still didn’t feel ready. He had made the mistake of telling Renjun and Renjun told him there was a reason he hadn’t immediately told him no and even told Renjun. He supposed Renjun was right and had ended up accepting the date, it had gone well but at the end of it when Yukhei had leaned in to kiss him, he pushed him away, he wasn’t ready for anything too romantic and he told Yukhei that. Yukhei didn’t push him and Donghyuck hadn’t been sure if that meant that Yukhei was no longer interested. Yukhei was going to Hong Kong for the holidays so it wasn’t like he could really gauge how he was feeling based on how he acted in class.

On Christmas, he received a call from Jaemin and he decided to block him, it had been more than a year since he had heard from Jaemin and in his book that just meant Jaemin wasn’t willing to fight like he had proclaimed. Mark didn’t call but the Lee’s did, they invited him over for New Years and he just told him he didn’t think it was a good idea since Mark and him weren’t on speaking terms. He spent the holidays with his Mom and on New Years eve decided to tell her a P.G version of what had happened between him in Mark, he was tired of holding in his secrets, beating around the bush when someone asked what had happened between him and Mark. He wanted to leave Jaemin and Mark in the past and gave himself a New Years Resolution to open himself up to other people, they had both shown him they weren’t willing to fight for him, he wasn’t a child anymore, he was done fighting for people who didn’t do the same thing. 

When the clock struck 12 in Seoul, Yukhei sent him a text even though they were an hour behind in Hong Kong, and Donghyuck couldn’t help but smile. 

Yukhei might not be the one, but he was going to stop hiding. He had cut his ties with Mark, it was time he stopped letting Mark hold him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this is the end guys, for those of you had actually waited for the ending, I'm hoping this wasn't too unsatisfying. I didn't think either character was a good choice if Donghyuck wanted to start fresh. I guess I wanted Donghyuck to be able to be free and not have to feel pressured to choose a man just because he had people interested. He needs time to be free and let himself be without two men fighting over him like hes a prize. I'm hoping everyone enjoyed, new reader and old reader alike. Thanks guys!


End file.
